Women Lead Record Number of Central Banks, but More Progress is Needed
IMF Blog, August 29, 2024
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: The Editors
- Published: August 29, 2024
Key findings
- The number of women in governor roles rose to 29 this year from 23 last year.
- The share of female leaders is 16 percent of the world’s 185 central banks.
- This year’s rise was the biggest gain in more than a decade of surveys.
Context and implications
- Greater gender balance in senior positions may help increase the diversity of thought and checks and balances, contributing to increased economic and financial stability and improved performance, IMF research shows.
- The tally adds to evidence of the struggle of women at central banks as well as in the economics discipline, where they remain underrepresented even after steady gains.
- A first-of-its-kind IMF survey of the European Central Bank and its Group of Seven counterparts showed last year that fewer than half of employees at those institutions are women, but on average only a third of women are economists or managers.
- ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has cited a substantial gender imbalance in economics and noted that barriers aren’t insurmountable; mentoring opportunities and ensuring childcare can help narrow gender imbalances.
Recent appointments and drivers of change
- Appointments this year in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Papua New Guinea lifted the share of central banks with women leaders to 16 percent.
- The latest additions included Jasmina Selimović, who began a six-year term in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Elizabeth Genia, who was appointed after serving as acting governor.
- Smaller economies are driving more progress on gender balance, according to OMFIF.
- Last year’s notable appointments included Michele Bullock, who became the first woman to lead the Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Cambodia, Georgia, Moldova and Montenegro also appointed women as the heads of their monetary authorities last year, according to OMFIF’s 2024 gender balance index.
Interpretation of trends
- Despite the increase from 23 to 29 female governors, the global share of 16 percent indicates central banks still have much room to make progress toward greater parity in the ranks of top policymakers steering the global economy.
- The year-over-year gain represents the largest increase in more than a decade of OMFIF surveys, suggesting episodic advances but persistent overall underrepresentation.
Source: The Editors, August 29, 2024 — Women Lead Record Number of Central Banks, but More Progress is Needed